This invention relates the field of molecular biology. More particularly, this invention relates to detection and quantitation of a particular nucleic acid molecule in a sample.
Various methods are known for detecting the presence of a particular nucleic acid molecule in a sample. These methods include the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), ligase chain reaction (LCR), nucleic acid sequence based amplification, strand displacement amplification, and amplification with Qo replicase (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,195; Birkenmeye and Mushahwar, J. Virol. Method 35: 117-126, 1991; Landegren, Trends Genetics 9: 199-202, 1993).
However, all of the above-methods are mistake-prone due to the numerous amplifications of the nucleic acid molecule. In addition, because sequence-specific oligonucleotides and primers must be produced for each particular nucleic acid molecule to be detected, the above-methods are very costly.
Thus, there remains a need to identify a rapid, reliable, and cost-effective method for detecting a particular nucleic acid molecule in a sample.